To talk French again. . .
I didn’t expect to speak it so soon or to a native French speaker in America really. But I’ve found myself talking out lour in French to no one but me just so I could hear it and keep it fresh in my mind. Then last week Jean-Jacques was here. He’s the camper who last summer taught me to count to 10 in French. When his mom camp to pick him up I talked to her in French. It’s so nice to be able to communicate in French. It’s still a little hard to believe that I can communicate by making those sounds :o) The bets part yet though has been yesterday. I knew that some people from the European Union were coming. I only knew that one of them spoke French and it was French from France. So when Jeff radioed and asked me if I wanted to meet the visitors and practice French I was ecstatic. I was even more excited when I found out it was four people who speak french not just one!
They are all from France. One lives in Georgia and works at a sister camp, Camp Cohutta, but the other three live in France. I think they were just as shocked as I was to be able to speak French, especially way out here in the middle of Alabama. It’s crazy! I love talking in front of the staff. It’s better than Spanish because less people speak it. Not that there’s anything to really talk about. Somehow it makes me feel like last year really happened in case anyone at camp doubted it. I feel that I have proof that I was there and learned things. I can’t believe how many words I’ve already forgotten I guess that happens when you go from talking it everyday at home to communicate to talking it every now and then out loud to yourself. . .
I’m loving all this French. They were quite impressed that I could speak it this well with only 9 months of exposure. They also enjoyed talking to someone with a pronounced African French accent. They in turn were quite sure they would be fluent if they could live in America for 9 months.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
June 8
Camping! I went camping!
We packed up stuff for an overnight- me, my log sleeve t-shirt, hoodie, blanket, nalgine, sleeping bag, and I was wearing a tank top, swimsuit and shorts. Who needs more it’s only 1 night. We packed up some food from the kitchen as well purposely forgetting plastic wear :o). It added to the adventure of it all. We canoed out to the gold mine, about 1 mile away. The water was so nice and smooth, I loved it! I am a canoeing girl to the core. We get out there and gather wood for our fire then I get started building it. I only used 1 match :o) Matt Heartman helped me (but I did the main work he just gave me some twigs to burn). So we built it from team work BUT I did the initial start up. I then went swimming – it was beautiful out, clear sky, big moon. Amazing. I brought microwaveable popcorn with us and a big pot to cook it in. While we were on shore eating supper our camp ranger doubted the ability to cook it, simply didn’t think it could be done. Well you know me, always eager to be proven right. So out at the fire I was excited to show off more of my knowledge from Tchad. So I popped 2 bags of popcorn. I opened them up put the butter from the bag in the pot, then kept it on the coals, once the few cornels had popped that I had in there to test the heat I knew it was ready so I put the rest in to pop. I kept it moving over the coals the entire time. It worked great! I didn’t live in Tchad for nothing!
Anyway the adventure really only begins here because shortly after the popcorn it starts to rain! I was enjoying the rain, but then it was getting colder so we all gathered around our fire to stay warm. When it didn’t let up for a while the call was made to head back and send the pontoon to get the stuff. The problem was we had 4 horses that were brought over. Emily, Laura B (who was visiting for the weekend) a CIT and I were chosen to ride them back to camp bareback. We almost rode that night but decided to go in daylight instead. So we stayed back. It was so much fun. Just the adventure I wanted :o). I woke up smelling like mildew because I went to bed wet and it was gently raining on us through the night and I slept at the edge of our tarp tent. But I honestly loved every minute of it. Africa helped to change me. I’m so much more confident about myself and my survival instincts. I survived the night because it’s not nearly as rough as I know it could be.
Thank you Father for the adventure of it all :o)
We packed up stuff for an overnight- me, my log sleeve t-shirt, hoodie, blanket, nalgine, sleeping bag, and I was wearing a tank top, swimsuit and shorts. Who needs more it’s only 1 night. We packed up some food from the kitchen as well purposely forgetting plastic wear :o). It added to the adventure of it all. We canoed out to the gold mine, about 1 mile away. The water was so nice and smooth, I loved it! I am a canoeing girl to the core. We get out there and gather wood for our fire then I get started building it. I only used 1 match :o) Matt Heartman helped me (but I did the main work he just gave me some twigs to burn). So we built it from team work BUT I did the initial start up. I then went swimming – it was beautiful out, clear sky, big moon. Amazing. I brought microwaveable popcorn with us and a big pot to cook it in. While we were on shore eating supper our camp ranger doubted the ability to cook it, simply didn’t think it could be done. Well you know me, always eager to be proven right. So out at the fire I was excited to show off more of my knowledge from Tchad. So I popped 2 bags of popcorn. I opened them up put the butter from the bag in the pot, then kept it on the coals, once the few cornels had popped that I had in there to test the heat I knew it was ready so I put the rest in to pop. I kept it moving over the coals the entire time. It worked great! I didn’t live in Tchad for nothing!
Anyway the adventure really only begins here because shortly after the popcorn it starts to rain! I was enjoying the rain, but then it was getting colder so we all gathered around our fire to stay warm. When it didn’t let up for a while the call was made to head back and send the pontoon to get the stuff. The problem was we had 4 horses that were brought over. Emily, Laura B (who was visiting for the weekend) a CIT and I were chosen to ride them back to camp bareback. We almost rode that night but decided to go in daylight instead. So we stayed back. It was so much fun. Just the adventure I wanted :o). I woke up smelling like mildew because I went to bed wet and it was gently raining on us through the night and I slept at the edge of our tarp tent. But I honestly loved every minute of it. Africa helped to change me. I’m so much more confident about myself and my survival instincts. I survived the night because it’s not nearly as rough as I know it could be.
Thank you Father for the adventure of it all :o)
CPR
Well I am definitely back at camp and I’m sure it’s going to be a great summer!
Adapting to western life hasn’t been too bad. There’s times when it’s harder like yesterday getting re-certified for CPR. The dummies were laying out on the table right next to me and memories came flooding back. Like the memory of the first woman I felt medically involved in helping to heal. I remember just standing there holding her IV Dextrose bottle so it could drain in to her veins. All the while watching James, Dr Bond, and others fight for her life with CPR. I watched them stand on the stepping stool so they could do the 30 chest compressions to every 3 bag breaths. I remember praying because I couldn’t help do the CPR and I remember helping to prepare her body after she died.
I remember the fist time I personally had to help bag a patient, a small child and being so scared and not really knowing what to do. I remember Dr Bond telling me I could stop because there was nothing more we could do and we didn’t want to confuse the family any more.
I remember the many times I would run to get the broken down old bag so we could try and save a life. And each time I would get the bag I would look at it and wonder why we didn’t have a bag that worked, and how I could get a better bag to the hospital so we could maybe have a better success rate with CPR.
I remember doing CPR on the small infant that was born just seconds before. I remember feeling more confident that I was doing it right and I remember the feeling of knowing that I fought for the life of the baby and God gave breath to the child.
I remember often Liz keeping the bag next to a malaria ridden child on nights we would work a shift.
I remember Esther jumping up on the gurney to start compressions on a man we had just operated on the day before. And she was doing the 30 compressions as we tried to maneuver the gurney back to the OR so we could get to the medications faster.
Those dummies the instructors brought to teach us CPR on were more than just dummies to me. They are memories of lives that were saved in Tchad and lives that we gave our best to even if it didn’t save their lives.
Adapting to western life hasn’t been too bad. There’s times when it’s harder like yesterday getting re-certified for CPR. The dummies were laying out on the table right next to me and memories came flooding back. Like the memory of the first woman I felt medically involved in helping to heal. I remember just standing there holding her IV Dextrose bottle so it could drain in to her veins. All the while watching James, Dr Bond, and others fight for her life with CPR. I watched them stand on the stepping stool so they could do the 30 chest compressions to every 3 bag breaths. I remember praying because I couldn’t help do the CPR and I remember helping to prepare her body after she died.
I remember the fist time I personally had to help bag a patient, a small child and being so scared and not really knowing what to do. I remember Dr Bond telling me I could stop because there was nothing more we could do and we didn’t want to confuse the family any more.
I remember the many times I would run to get the broken down old bag so we could try and save a life. And each time I would get the bag I would look at it and wonder why we didn’t have a bag that worked, and how I could get a better bag to the hospital so we could maybe have a better success rate with CPR.
I remember doing CPR on the small infant that was born just seconds before. I remember feeling more confident that I was doing it right and I remember the feeling of knowing that I fought for the life of the baby and God gave breath to the child.
I remember often Liz keeping the bag next to a malaria ridden child on nights we would work a shift.
I remember Esther jumping up on the gurney to start compressions on a man we had just operated on the day before. And she was doing the 30 compressions as we tried to maneuver the gurney back to the OR so we could get to the medications faster.
Those dummies the instructors brought to teach us CPR on were more than just dummies to me. They are memories of lives that were saved in Tchad and lives that we gave our best to even if it didn’t save their lives.
Friday, June 6, 2008
tears of mine
Here’s what happened on my first Saturday after arriving in the United States of America. I was waiting for Andrea or Stan to arrive at Sabbath School as I sat out in the hallway of Collegedale Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Just getting ready for Church that morning had been a bit of an ordeal, I had tried on a favorite dress of mine from when I came back from Honduras. But I didn’t know where the shoes for it were and I looked good in it, which is what I was hoping for. The only problem was I didn’t feel comfortable in it. It was a bit different than what I was used to wearing in Tchad. So I changed at the last min to a skirt and shirt.
As I was sitting in the hall thinking the blue prints for the new middle school that the church is building in Collegedale is big and silly, Kristi and Joel camp up. I knew Kristi and Joel before Tchad but Liz had been much better friends. I had spent the last nine months looking at pictures of their wedding on Liz’ screen saver along with lots of other peoples weddings including her sister and brother-in-law, Rachel and Kyle. I had only met Kyle once and that was a long time ago. So it was strange when Kristi and Joel came up and I saw them in person for the first time after staring at pictures knowing they were miles away. It was strange to see Kyle in person (Rachel was in Washington hanging out with Liz) It was also a bit strange being in a little chapel for Sabbath school, the chairs were huge, the tall stained glass windows beautiful and I was new. Stan came in not long after we arrived. It was good to see him again, then Kyle arrived and maybe it’s like seeing a celebrity in person but it was a bit strange. Andrea was a smidgen late (she texted me but I had forgotten how to do all that stuff in the year I was gone and I didn’t even check it or think about checking it), by the time she arrived during the first song I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. We sang two more songs and the last verse of the last song we sang acapella so we could hear all the parts. To be honest I did try to hold back my tears. I bit my lip and looked up at the beautiful stained glass windows. But nothing could stop my feelings of relief, joy, overwhelmed exposure to the “west” and the exhaustion of traveling for days as it all came out in rolling tears. I had to get up and excuse myself to the restroom right in the middle of the song. There was a very sweet older lady who came into the bathroom and offered to help me. I think she understood the tears to be bad tears, tears of hurt. That they were not, they were simply tears that needed to be expressed and released. She was very helpful. She wanted me to use her powder for my nose and lip gloss for my lips to help me feel more presentable after getting puffy eyes and a runny nose. She was a dear. My heart beat had slowed back down again and I was able to go back in to Sabbath School and enjoy the rest of my first Sabbath back home.
As I was sitting in the hall thinking the blue prints for the new middle school that the church is building in Collegedale is big and silly, Kristi and Joel camp up. I knew Kristi and Joel before Tchad but Liz had been much better friends. I had spent the last nine months looking at pictures of their wedding on Liz’ screen saver along with lots of other peoples weddings including her sister and brother-in-law, Rachel and Kyle. I had only met Kyle once and that was a long time ago. So it was strange when Kristi and Joel came up and I saw them in person for the first time after staring at pictures knowing they were miles away. It was strange to see Kyle in person (Rachel was in Washington hanging out with Liz) It was also a bit strange being in a little chapel for Sabbath school, the chairs were huge, the tall stained glass windows beautiful and I was new. Stan came in not long after we arrived. It was good to see him again, then Kyle arrived and maybe it’s like seeing a celebrity in person but it was a bit strange. Andrea was a smidgen late (she texted me but I had forgotten how to do all that stuff in the year I was gone and I didn’t even check it or think about checking it), by the time she arrived during the first song I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. We sang two more songs and the last verse of the last song we sang acapella so we could hear all the parts. To be honest I did try to hold back my tears. I bit my lip and looked up at the beautiful stained glass windows. But nothing could stop my feelings of relief, joy, overwhelmed exposure to the “west” and the exhaustion of traveling for days as it all came out in rolling tears. I had to get up and excuse myself to the restroom right in the middle of the song. There was a very sweet older lady who came into the bathroom and offered to help me. I think she understood the tears to be bad tears, tears of hurt. That they were not, they were simply tears that needed to be expressed and released. She was very helpful. She wanted me to use her powder for my nose and lip gloss for my lips to help me feel more presentable after getting puffy eyes and a runny nose. She was a dear. My heart beat had slowed back down again and I was able to go back in to Sabbath School and enjoy the rest of my first Sabbath back home.
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